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WILLIE AND LOBO RETURN TO THE HOG’S BREATH SALOON
Willie and Lobo, the Gypsy flamenco, classical guitar duo, will perform exclusively at the Hog’s Breath Saloon Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. The duo has played the Hog’s Breath for the past five years and look forward to this weekend. “We come back each year and enjoy playing something different for the folks of Key West,” said Willie. “It’s good for us too, because the Hog’s Breath is an interment setting. I enjoy it more than a festival setting.” Before coming to Key West the duo performed in Birmingham, Ala., Tampa, Sarasota and Bonita Springs. “ When we leave Key West we will end up touring on the West Coast and Canada,” Willie said. “We tour a lot less now than we’ve done in the past, but we always look forward to Key West.” Willie
added, that having contact with the Hog’s Breath’s
audience is one of the things that keeps them coming back. Willie and Lobo's increasing popularity and musicality led to their involvement in the soundtrack to the 1995 independent film, “Shadow of the Pepper Tree.” In addition, their music played a prominent role in the 1997 film, “Fuochi d'artifico,” produced by Vittorio and Rita Cecchi Gori (Il Postino, Mediterraneo, Johnny Stecchino), and was used as accompaniment by Ukrainian skater Yulia Lavrenchuk at the 1999 World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland. When not touring or recording, Willie and Lobo are likely to be found catching a wave near their homes, Willie on the West Coast of Florida and Lobo on the Mexican coast. These two "rockin' surfin' gypsy dudes" have had their music used in the surfing documentary, “Blazing Longboards,” and continue to name songs after their favorite surfing spot. Willie Royal was born in El Paso, Texas, as the son of an Air Force lieutenant colonel, and was raised in such exotic locales as Turkey, Germany, France, and Florida. He began his classical violin lessons at the age of eight, and was so proficient that he became concertmaster of his high school orchestra. Inspired by rock 'n' roll - as well as the violin-fueled fusion of Jean-Luc Ponty, Stephane Grappelli, and It's A Beautiful Day - Royal rebelled against his formal training and started playing country-rock fiddle in a popular Florida-based band, while occasionally sitting in with Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts of the legendary Allman Brothers Band. Willie continued to absorb diverse musical styles - reggae, jazz, salsa - and soon set out on the road, playing in Europe, Canada, Brazil, and New Zealand, before settling in sunny Mexico in the early '80s.
Willie and Lobo's first fateful meeting came in 1983, when the two musicians were both working at Mamma Mia's restaurant in the colonial town of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Willie was playing fiddle with a local salsa combo, while Lobo played solo flamenco guitar on the patio. Though they jammed occasionally, Willie and Lobo were still searching for their individual sound, recording a number of solo albums before finally uniting in 1990 in Puerto Vallarta. They soon made a live recording of a swinging Willie and Lobo set, which they dubbed PLAYING HARD. Charlie Bauer, general manager, said both performances
are close to being sold out. Tickets are $20 in advance,
and
$25 at the
door.
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Wolfgang "Lobo" Fink
was born in the tiny Bavarian village of Teisendorf, halfway around
the world from his musical partner. The 18-year-old Lobo first
picked up his chosen instrument while serving as a signalman
in the German navy. After hearing an album by gypsy guitarist Manitas
de Plata, the young mariner
discovered his affinity for the romantic, rhythmic music.
After completing his term of service, he searched out de Plata,
ultimately finding the guitarist residing
in a gypsy camp in Southern France. Lobo spent a year with
de Plata and his people, hanging out and absorbing the music. 
